User Reviews

Thanks to jedwards for bringing this one out. 22oz. bottle - Batch #129, Bottle #30. Poured a bright orange with a semi-hazy clarity and a bright white, skim of a head that quickly dissipated. Big tangerine presence in the nose with some earthiness behind. Taste is somewhat consistent with the nose; however, it is not as sweet as suggested, with an ashy bitterness at the finish. Mouthfeel is light-medium, with an easy carbonation and a semi-dry finish. A very solid IPA; but the ashy bitterness at the finish got to be a little much after a while.

Tastes similar to how it smells however the hops are a bit stronger in the taste than the smell intimated. Pale malt flavors kick things off and are joined quickly by good amounts of citrus hops with very light hints of pine. Midway through the sip the hop flavors gain a slightly leafy quality and carry through to a moderately bitter finish.

Mouthfeel is very good. It's got a very nice thickness with grainy carbonation.

Drinkability is good. I didn't have a problem finishing my glass and could have another.

Overall I thought this was a solid IPA however judging from the reviews I may have had a bottle that wasn't terribly fresh. Still, it has the makings of a good beer and I'll be interested to try others from Lawson.

22oz bottle thanks to Mike, appreciate it man. Hazy orange color, good head. Aroma was slight pine and citrus but nothing exposive. Flavor was much the same, bitter, and then a mineral quality I did not like. Overall, eh it was ok. I'd revisit it once but I'm starting to wonder why Lawson's is so highly praised.

Pours a faintly hazed golden color with some darker copper hues. Thick crop of beige head bubbles up, leaving patchy lacing stuck to the glass and a cloud of film resting on top of the brew.

Powerful, pleasant hop aromas with citrus and pine. Resin-soaked bitterness and light fruit sweetness strike a great balance. Bready malts with a dash of caramel and soft alcohol-induced warmth.

Potent bitterness up front with piny resin and juicy grapefruit tones. Earthy and hoppy throughout with a sold caramel malted backbone. Hints of bread crust and light fruit sweetness. Finishes bitter and warm with sticky pine tones.

Slightly fuller medium body, nice carbonation, sticky and lingering on the tongue. This was one of the first Lawson's beers I've had the opportunity to try and I definitely want to experience more.

A: Pours a dark orange with a huge light tan head that took forever to collapse under its own weight into a thick, rocky, oily layer that left chucks of sticky lacing down the glass.
S: True to the writing on the label, this beer is "bursting with citrusy goodness." I get big notes of grapefruit and pineapple, but there are a few notes of pine in there as well.
T: Huge blast of expected Chinook hop flavor. Big notes of grapefruit pith and citrus tear away at my taste buds. A potent dose of bitterness lingers long after the swallow, but there are some sweet malt undertones throughout.
M: Medium body, smooth even carbonation, with a sticky, bitter mouthfeel.
D: This is only my second Lawson's beer but boy do I love this brewery! I would drink this regularly. Thanks again Michael for sending me Lawson's beers. Keep them coming!

From notes, 1/28/11. Excellent IPA. The beer pours golden with a nice white head. Aroma is grapefruit, pineapple, pine and marijuana. It’s a much more nuanced hop aroma than expected from a single hop Chinook beer. Taste is medium bitter and mildly dry. Some light caramel malt presence, but it’s really about the hops. Light mouthfeel. Medium to medium-low carbonation. A very pleasant surprise.

Poured from tap into pint at Three Penny Montpelier, VT.
Pours a hazy burnt orange with thick foamy head. Crazy hop forward aromas. Very piney, cotton candy, and almost vanilla aroma. Taste is a bit sweet/candy hop, but bitter pure hop notes. It definitely is bitter but well balanced and very flavorful. Really well made brew and just full of great flavours.

A: Hazy deep reddish amber body with a finger of frothy off-white head. Decent retention and some light lacing. Not bad, but not especially impressive.

S: Powerful, fresh, spicy hop aroma. There's plenty of the grapefruit and pine (as one would expect from a Chinook IPA), but there's also a surprising, intriguing, and enchanting thread of sweet spiciness: cinnamon and nutmeg come to mind. It's wonderful. Some slight malt sweetness also comes into play, but it's at best tertiary compared to the fresh, complex hoppiness. Wonderful.

T: Lots of pine, some citrus, and some lightly toasty malt. Highly bitter finish. Quite enjoyable, but nowhere near as enthralling as the aroma.

M: Smooth medium body, but noticeable undercarbonated. Not the best.

D: The alcohol doesn't come into play, but the intense bitterness does. Not the easiest IPA to drink.

Notes: Picked this one up at the Warren Store yesterday, and was extremely excited to share it with a fellow hophead. We both found it to be a very good, but not quite outstanding IPA. The aroma is by far the best feature, and definitely marks this one as a memorable brew. If only the other aspects were as wonderful.

I snagged a bottle of this on 01SEP12 at The Warren Store and quaffed it yesterday while enjoying the end of summer...

Poured into an imperial nonic, it was a clear, medium to medium-dark copper color. Had a healthy light tan, creamy head, starting at about 1" and slowly falling back. Carbo below was steady, and the lacing left behind was solid. Smell was of sweetish malts and fruit, with some rindy bitterness mixed in. It was a good medium for the body, and quite smooth and even going down.

Flavor? Started nicely with sweet citrus fruit, like orange, tangerine and apricot. This slowly melds into some rindy grapefruit, along with piney, resiny action at the finish. These fruit notes lingered quite nicely. Very tasty and enjoyable! My only regret is how the tickerati have inflated the prices for Lawson's. Prosit!!

From notes: Chinooker'd IPA pours a clear amber with a small, frothy white head on top. The foam disappears quickly leaving behind spots of lace on the glass. No bubbles seen in the beer.

The aroma is very grassy with hints of pine and orange citrus.

Each sip of this medium bodied beer is soft and oily on the palate with light carbonation. The flavor begins sweet with caramel malt and some toast. Soon hop flavors of grass, pine and orange citrus move in. It finishes dry with lingering grass and pine flavors.

This is a very tasty beer with lots of hops and enough malt sweetness to balance out the bitterness.

Thanks to Phil for picking this one up for me. 22oz. bomber into a Brooklyn Brewery snifter. Shared with schen9303. Pours a slowly cascading 1.5 finger frothy light cream colored head with good retention. Beer is a clear dark amber. Lacing is stringy, thick, layered with good cling. Excellent looking beer.

Light bodied with moderate carbonation. Lively and quenching in the mouth and smooth going down with a mellow finish and lingering aftertaste. Very solid for the style.

Very well done up and down, Chinooker'd is a great representation of the awesome IPAs floating around Vermont. Very balanced in the nose and taste and incredibly drinkable, this is an expertly crafted beer in its style.

Pours a dark gold color with a thick fluffy head on top. Good lacing. The aroma shows a combination of pine, biscuit malt, and quite a bit of grapefruit. This is just a flat out tasty IPA. There’s a light toasted caramel and cookie malt backing for support while still allowing the hop to shine. This is oily and bitter with pine and grapefruit hop flavors. It gets rather dry in the finish with some sharp bitterness on the backend.

Chinooker'd IPA has an orange body and a rocky tan head that leaves behind a few tendrils of lacing after showing off solid retention.

The aroma is aggressively hoppy, with citrus, pine and a lot of resin.

It is definitely safe to refer to Chinooker'd as a hop bomb. Every sip of this stuff is an absolute attack of hops on your taste buds. Loads of citrus, especially grapefruit mixed with a ton of pine. I think that pine might be single strongest flavor in this one. Layers of resin and leafy hop flavor come next, followed by a ton of bitterness. The malt barely makes an appearance, balancing things out with just a hint of sweetness toward the end.

The mouthfeel is oily and biting, with a full body.

Chinooker'd is a great IPA that you will want to have more than one of, which won't be a problem if you visit the Mad River Valley. Definitely try this one when you find it pouring somewhere.

A gold foil wrapped 22 ounce bomber. Much thanks to brothercannon for bringing a few of these down to PA for me to enjoy. Rare batch #96, bottle #48. Uncapped and poured into my Adnams nonic tumbler. The ale appears a hazy pale golden amber color with about two fingers of creamy off white foam. The head leaves a size-able lace in its wake with each sip. A very nice looking pour. The nose and flavors consist of bitter white and red grapefruit peel and juice, orange and tangerine peel, some lemon, just about the right amount of sweet caramelized malt, lightly toasted bread, somewhat earthy, resinous pine, dank weed, another wave of grapefruit, a pleasant lingering bitterness. The ale falls somewhere between medium and full bodied with ample carbonation. A great example of the style. Thanks again Tim!

Out of a gold foil wrapped bottle (#16 of Rare Batch #39) this beer was a tangerine orange/gold color with good clarity and a little amount of rising carbonation. The yellow-tinted head was a full three-fingers thick and displayed very good retention as a cap. The lacing was very thick and consistent all the way down my glass. The aroma was an excellent blend of 'citrusy goodness' provided by the Chinook hops with some light green and floral notes along with pale malt in the background. The flavors were at first very citrusy, lots of grapefruit and orange peels notes, in the middle I tasted some pine and towards the end the herbal bitterness really came through. The citrusy oils from the hops left a slick on my tongue. Totally a hop-head beer and it fully captured the flavor of this complex hop strain. Though hop dominated there was enough doughy malt and pale malt to keep it balanced. The mouthfeel was smooth, the body medium/full and the carbonation delicate. Personally, I love a bold beer and this was just that. Another winner (in this case, literally) from Sean Lawson.

22 oz bottle courtesy of Mike, an extremely generous guy and the epitome of a true BA, Thank you so much for this opportunity. Poured into a Duvel tulip.

Pours a rich medium-dark orange with some haze and an inch of fluff that breaks into chunky soapy islands. Lacing is rather tame for the hopcentricity.

Very dank, herbal, and earthy pine notes on the nose. Smells sharp and bitter with an underlying doughy malt foundation.

Chinook is an aggressive and pissed off hop. Waves of bitterness throughout with the wet forest aromas from the nose playing a massive role. Big sappy pine cone bomb here. This beer is like taking a fork and knife and trying to eat your way through the wilderness. There is a healthy malt spine that attempts to prop up the hefty hops, but I certainly would not bill this as balanced.

Mouthfeel starts a bit sticky and finishes near bone dry. The tongue coating bitterness and oils just barrage the tongue and linger.

The mention of grapefruit on the label, despite my best attempts, is very light and really only shows itself as this nears room temperature. Rather, this veers hard towards the brash aggressive pine notes with little brightness or citric notes. The latter are the types of IPA's I prefer, but I can appreciate what is here. Thanks again Mike! I'd love to have more access to Lawson's stuff.

The beer poured a slightly hazed, crimson-amber color and was topped by a creamy, light beige, two-finger head. Thick, drippy streaks of lacing cascaded down the glass.

The nose was dynamic yet unusual. It started spicy with strong notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. Later, it turned quite soapy. Perhaps a touch floral. As the beer warmed it again changed to something more straightforward (yet subtle) for the style. Hints of orange peel and pine sap came through.

The flavor profile was much punchier than the nose. Hops dominated but they were well tempered on the front end by a stiff, caramel malt backbone. The malts were somewhat bready as well. A wash of hops soon overshadowed the malts. Tangerine and orange zest came through strong. Quite fruity and juicy. The finish was piney and resiny. Super hoppy with no discernible alcohol presence.

The mouthfeel was perhaps the most impressive aspect of this beer. It was fuller bodied for the style and amazingly slick, creamy and frothy. Super plush on the palate. Fantastic.

Chinooker'd IPA almost seems to be more of a hoppy imperial red ale than a typical American IPA, and there is nothing wrong with that. Fans of intensely hoppy yet balanced IPAs will definitely appreciate this.

22oz bottle purchased at the Lawson's bottle release this past Saturday (2 days ago) at the Waitsfield Farmer's market. Poured into snifter. Drank back to back with Double Sunshine.

A- Pours a slightly brownish gold (darker then Double Sunshine) with about a quarter finger of white foamy head that quickly recedes and leaves nice layered lacing. About average to slightly below average carbonation.

T- Very piney hops, almost like you are drinking a liquified fresh evergreen tree, most piney beer I've had. Pine is balanced with a little bit of grapfruit citrus, a tiny bit of lemon, finishes with a very piney taste that lingers for a little bit.

M- Medium bodied, nice carbonation, very drinkable.

O- This was a very good beer. I like piney hops, but this one was a little bit over the top. Very good otherwise. Compared to Double Sunshine- the appearance was actually slightly better, smell was about the same (nice hop smell, but a little bit too piney), the taste wasn't as good (definitely way too piney- like drinking a fresh evergreen), the mouthfeel was about the same if not better. Overall it was very well done, just a tiny bit too piney for my tastes. If you like piney IPAs, I'd recommend trying it out. I definitely enjoyed it, however the pine was a little bit too intense- wish it was mellowed out with a little bit more citrus, but I think this is what they were going for.

22oz bottle poured into a DFH signature glass. No bottle date present but this was picked up for me about 2 weeks ago in VT.

A: Pours a hazy bright orange color. Half finger off white head. Some sticky lacing bits are left on the glass after swirling. Nice carbonation coming off the bottom.

S: I got lots of piney, resiny hops. But there are some sweet caramel malts in there for balance. The Chinook hop usually gives you nice pine and also some mild citrus, if memory serves.

T: Piney hop bite on the tip of the tongue. It's not overly Abrasive or anything though. Then you get alot of caramel malt and other grains. It's a nice balance, although I like HOP bombers that are not balanced, and wished this one was more like that. Nice crisp bitter hop finish on the close. You are left with that resiny hop flavor in your mouth.

M: Medium bodied IPA, true to type.

O: Very nice single hop IPA. First beer from this brewery and look forward to trying more of them, IF I can that is.